Posts By: Stuart Dinnie

Benchmarking Website Performance

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As a follow on from the popular post ‘5 questions to ask before redesigning your construction company website‘, over the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing the phases and processes that we take our clients through to deliver their engaging and measurable online experiences.

Looking at benchmarking and auditing to implementation; building the website to driving new traffic and finally, keeping loyal visitors happy and turning them into brand advocates and product referrers.

We’ll explore the challenges facing today’s marketers. Delivering a website that not only qualifies new leads quickly, but builds confidence and credibility encouraging prospects to buy or specify your products over the competition’s.

This post on ‘Benchmarking Website Performance’ is part 1 of our series of posts that highlights how we get the very best results from the web-build projects we undertake.Read More

Taking the first step towards complying with the EU Cookie Law

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So, we’re only a few days away until the EU Cookie Law deadline is with us and Pauley Creative have taken the first step in working towards complying with the law. With all the consultations, seminars, papers and posts already written on the subject we thought that by making a small step forward it is better than taking no step at all. In my opinion the majority of marketers, web masters and business owners have adopted a ‘wait and see what others do’ approach. Only yesterday we heard that the ICO will be sending letters to the top 50 website owners but did not state which 50 websites they were but site traffic was one of the criteria.Read More

10 ways to create viral videos as part of a construction products campaign

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Definition Viral video: A video which becomes popular through social sharing (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc)

Viral videos can be great – great fun, great for branding and great for reach without necessarily having access to spectacular budgets.

The brilliant thing about these videos is that they have the magical ability to take you out of your ‘construction’ pigeonhole. The techniques and tactics which make a great viral will transcend your industry labels and appeal directly to basal human instincts… curiosity, sympathy, humour, sociability.

Reviewing some of the greatest viral videos from the past few years, it’s clear to see trends in some of the more successful tactics employed by the creative agencies.Read More

What is BES 6001, do your building products meet the grade and more importantly are you telling your customers?

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BES 6001 is part of the governments drive to ensure a building product manufacturers’ sustainability claims are proven and that their materials have been resourced responsibly.

The standard describes a framework for the organisational governance, supply chain management and environmental and social aspects that must be addressed in order to ensure the responsible sourcing of construction products.

In reality certification for BES 6001 ensures a manufacturers credibility is safe guarded thus providing the reassurance specifiers, contractors and building owners rely on when meeting the governments requirements for sustainable development.Read More

Guest Post: BIM. Rubbish In, Rubbish Out!

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We’ve covered BIM in a couple of blog posts over the last few months, no doubt it is still and will be a big talking point for a long time to come. As a digital marketing agency we are still learning about the subject ourselves. So, for this particular post we asked the legendary social networker who many of your will know through Twitter, Derek Mynott, Director of Driver Project Services to give his thoughts on BIM particularly from a Quantity Surveyor point of view.

Derek, it’s over to you.

BIM…..rubbish in…..rubbish out!Read More

Overview of the New Social Media Reports in Google Analytics

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Wondering exactly what the answers are to these questions:

“How many visits have we had to the website from social media sites?”

“How many of those visits turned into enquiries?”

“How many of the total enquiries were influenced or helped by social sources?”

“What value has social media sites generated via the website?”

Look no further than the new ‘Social Report’ in Google Analytics. The report can be found under ‘Traffic Sources’ tab and then clicking on ‘Social’.Read More

Don’t chase after Google’s algorithm, chase after what users want

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Last week I attended BrightonSEO (biggest SEO conference in Europe) for the very first time, usually I just follow it on Twitter, but this year decided that I had to be there as so much has developed in the SEO and Analytics industry over the past 12 months. Search engine updates, coding enhancements through to how users have changed their behaviour online. Fascinating stuff. This for me was an opportunity to hear and speak to experts in the industry and get their perspective on how search is changing and is expected to change over the next few years.

The biggest point I took away from the conference was this, even if you decide to not read the rest of this post then the least you, as a marketer, can do is take this thought away with you:

“Don’t chase after Google’s algorithm, chase after your best interpretation of what users want because that is what Google’s chasing after” Matt Cutts – Feb 2011

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Do journalists use social media to research their stories?

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It’s the question on everybody’s lips at the moment – do journalists use social media to research their stories? Are you missing a trick if you’re not engaging with key editorial contacts on Twitter? Which channels should you focus on developing?

Certainly within the PR industry there is significant rumination going on at the moment – PR professionals are desperately trying to anticipate the platforms that journalists might be trialling, hoping to stay one step ahead so that they are ready and waiting should a journalist come looking for them, and yet still trying to cover all bases by email broadcasting news in the more traditional way.

I met a PR professional at an event a few weeks ago who confidently told me “Journalists always prefer me to tweet them now (rather than phone or email) – I never email anybody any more”. But how true really is this? Can we rely on our audience using Twitter alone to source their news stories, or do we need to try and spread our efforts between maintaining social media alongside more traditional communication methods?Read More

Good Things Get Done By Construction Companies Doing Good

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Why marketing your construction business CSR programs through social media platforms is good for business.

Fourfront_native_orchard

Image courtesy of Fourfront Group – commercial interior specialists

Let’s not split hairs here, the majority of CSR programs are a good thing. Besides the business agenda, at the very least some ‘social or sustainable’ good is being done. However, is it really still acceptable to invest time and energy in planning and running Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] programs if the only ‘promotional’ outcome is a flimsy report?Read More

Why you should focus your SEO on search terms with more than 4 words (The Long Tail)

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I know of many marketers who spend a lot of effort, time and money trying to get their websites to rank high within search engines for head terms, high volume keywords such as bricks, rainwater harvesting, loft insulation, wall ties, LED lights, cladding, aluminum cladding, roof tiles, silver taps and so on. Whilst these types of keywords are attractive because they come with high volumes of traffic it’s not really what you should be focusing ALL of your time, effort or money on. I haven’t come across many marketers who spend time looking at or focusing on the ‘long tail’, you know, the one’s who are about to send you an enquiry. Let’s just remind ourselves of what the long tail actually means:Read More